Friends;
I know several families that have been waiting for MONTHS for someone in the Nairobi High Commission ofice to stamp their children’s paperwork so they can go pick them up. These kids are just waiting and waiting and waiting… for a family, for stability and love. It’s time to write some letters and demand a change! Let’s get these kids home!
Call to pens!
Here is a copy of our email. Please take 5 minutes to send an email to Minister Diane Finley at Minister@cic.gc.ca . Be sure to CC your MP - find their email address here.
Dear Minister Finley;I am writing to express my concern about the time it is taking for Ethiopian children adopted to Canadian families to obtain a Permanent Resident Visa or Citizenship paperwork.Orphaned children have been through a lot. Most have lost their parents to AIDS or poverty; they have often suffered malnutrition, lived on the streets and been moved from place to place. Although the agencies that facilitate Canadian adoptions in Ethiopia have good care facilities, these facilities and paid staff are in no way a replacement for a permanent family, who can nurture them back to emotional and physical health. Unfortunately, children are being left in these transitional facilities for 6 months to a year, as they (and their parents in Canada) anxiously wait for the High Commission in Nairobi to process immigration paperwork.
My husband and I are adopting two children from Ethiopia. Although we have decided to try the new citizenship route, we have two concerns:
First, we think it is a terrible injustice for any child to be in institutionalized care longer than necessary, simply because there are a lack of human resources to stamp Permanent Resident Visas at the High Commission in Nairobi.
Second, we are highly concerned that our own children’s citizenship process will be much longer than necessary, again, simply because their is a backlog at the High Commission.
No other country that takes up to six months to process the adoptions of Ethiopian children. The United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Ireland, Finland and Spain all process adoption visas within 1-4 weeks of the Ethiopian court date, not 4-8 months.
We strongly urge the CIC to employ additional staff to process the immigration paperwork for adopted children at the High Commission in Nairobi. Ethiopian adoptions are doubling each year, and the CIC must support the health of these orphaned children by getting them home in weeks, not months, after the court decisions.
Sincerely,
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
hey
I sent my letter off right now…hope that some changes will come!!
Louise
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I will be writing an email, and asking others to write as well….
thanks for including your email as an example!
Sandi
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Thanks for posting this - I’m sending my letter tonight.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:06 am
I sent my letter too!
March 4th, 2008 at 1:08 am
I’m excited about this giant “shout” to our government! Let’s make sure they can’t ignore us!
We sent our letter tonight.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Great letter Nicky. I took your lead and posted my letter on our blog. I hope this makes a difference… I want to see my little girl SO BADLY!
March 4th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I just sent mine off too. Nicky, hope you don’t mind that copied part of you letter…..you worded things much better than I could have.
Wouldn’t it be nice if this got things moving quicker so after this dreadfully long wait for referral we could have a shorter wait to travel??
Ricki
March 4th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Thanks everyone - and feel free to cut and paste from mine, if you want
ricki or anyone else. I copied some of it from another lady!
March 4th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
We sent ours as well and cc’d our MP. We borrowed some of your wording as well. I hope we see some changes from this.
Shannon
March 5th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Hi there,
I have not posted a comment before but I just have to say I love reading your blog!!
My name is Shannon and my husband and I live in Ontario and are doing our homestudy. We decided to start a blog as well and I put a link to yours on mine (hope that is ok - just let me know if you want me to remove the link and I will).
Now that we are starting this process I am excited to become more involved in this great online community!
I took your advice and sent my letter off last night!
Take care,
Shannon
March 11th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Has anyone heard a response to their letters yet?
How did you reply?
We heard back from our MP and she said :Please keep me informed of this situation and let me know if I can be of assistance.
I thought the letter was petty clear how she could help.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Mare
March 11th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I only heard that they “received” it…
Nicky